Embodiment and Psychological Health in Adolescence: 2. Embodiment Profiles and their Association with Psychological Health Among Young Adolescents.

BACKGROUND

Several researchers have argued that disturbances in embodiment play an important role in the development of psychological health problems among adolescents. The purpose of the present study was to use the 12-item Embodiment Scale (ES-12), with its three subscales Harmonious Body (HB), Disharmonious Body (DB), and Body for Others (BO), (1) to identify subgroups of adolescents with different profiles on the ES-12 scales, and (2) to see how these profiles are associated with patterns of psychological health problems.

METHODS

The participants were 530 adolescents with a mean age of 14 years ( = 0.89), who filled out the ES-12 and measures of disordered eating, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), anxiety, and depression. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to divide the sample into (1) subgroups with different profiles of HB, DB and BO and (2) subgroups with different psychological health profiles. Cross-tabulation was used to study associations between different embodiment profiles and different patterns of psychological health problems.

RESULTS

Five different profiles of embodiment were identified: . Five different psychological health profiles were identified: and a profile. Cross-tabulation showed that individuals with a profile were over-represented among adolescents in the cluster, and that individuals with the profile were over-represented in both clusters. Individuals with a profile were overrepresented among adolescents with a profile but not among adolescents with profiles.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings align with theoretical frameworks which emphasize the importance of embodiment for the understanding of psychological health problems. At the same time, the results go against theories that attribute a central role to high levels of experienced Body for Others for the development of psychological health problems.